Continuing their reign of sensible casting choices, Marvel Studios recently announced that James Spader (who recently appeared in Lincoln) will play the titular lead villain in The Avengers: Age of Ultron. It’s unsure whether Spader will need to wear a mo-cap suit or go on The Wolverine diet (we doubt that), but there’s little question that his demanding and downright sexy voice will be the core of the human-hating robot.
Critics Fall for Gravity
The hotly anticipated 3D space drama Gravity by Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men) has been backed by a wealth of early praise from critics after its world première at the Venice Film Festival. Includes the terms ‘breathtaking’, ‘breath-catching’ and ‘sucks the breath from your lungs’.
Variety‘s Justin Chang calls the film:
“classical and cutting-edge in its showmanship, placing the most advanced digital filmmaking techniques in service of material that could hardly feel more accessible…
“perhaps the boldest risk of all was the decision to combine these elements in a manner that would hold up under the prolonged scrutiny of the camera, in single-shot sequences of such breathtaking duration and coherence. Somewhere, one imagines, the spirits of Stanley Kubrick and Max Ophuls are looking down in admiration.”
The Guardian‘s Xan Brooks adds:
“a brilliantly tense and involving account of two stricken astronauts; a howl in the wilderness that sucks the breath from your lungs.”
Todd McCarthy from The Hollywood Reporter caps it off, saying:
“the most realistic and beautifully choreographed film ever set in space, Gravity is a thrillingly realized survival story spiked with interludes of breath-catching tension and startling surprise.”
Gravity opens in NZ on October 3rd – stay tuned, as it looks like we will have a bunch of tickets to give away…
Need a good NZ Movie Podcast?
Flicks writer Liam Maguren (A Man of 100 Words) played guest co-host this week to New Zealand’s biggest movie podcast Cinematica, an opportunity he’s been dying for (not to be a podcaster, but to have a rant about The Mortal Instruments). Rocking the iTunes section for nearly two years, the podcast is deserving of a Kiwi movie-lover’s time.
Things that will happen
Matt Damon joins Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar in what is said to be a relatively small role. (via IndieWire’s The Playlist)
Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Sightseers, A Field in England) will direct J.G. Ballard’s novel High-Rise, the gritty ultra-violent near-future tale set in a (you guessed it) high-rise building where the society within suffers total collapse. (via Total Film)
Louis Leterrier will direct the sequel to the surprise Box Office hit Now You See Me, which we seriously hope will be called ‘Now You Don’t’. (via Coming Soon)
Things we want to happen
We want the ability to buy this LEGO Monty Python and the Holy Grail set made by Rifiröfi. Unfortunately, that’ll probably never happen, but you can see the rest of his brilliant mock designs here. (via The Brothers Brick)
